Russian Immigrant Brings Steam Plant Ideas To L.v.

March 11, 1986|by TOM LOWRY, The Morning Call

Dr. Alexander Kalina is on a roll. The former Russian scientist has loosened his tie, opened his monogrammed shirt and begun telling his favorite Russian jokes. In between punch lines, he sips from his second glass of Heineken, holding a Dunhill cigarette in his other hand.

The 53-year-old Kalina, who lives in Houston, said life has been good since he was permitted to emigrate to this country in 1978. "It was like starting a new life at 45," Kalina said in a language he has learned to speak rather well in a relatively short time. "It's refreshing."

Despite his light-heartedness and quick humor, the tiny Russian inventor is a serious man with several serious patents that may leave public utility companies and their customers indebted to Soviet officials for allowing Kalina to be reborn in this country.

Since his arrival in America, Kalina has developed a new energy-efficient process using a mixture of ammonia and water for turning steam to power, which he claims could save utilities lots of money.

The process, known as the "Kalina Cycle," has received widespread publicity recently. The mumblings in the scientific community about whether the process can work has created notoriety for Kalina himself, who also has obtained patents for a gaslift system.

Kalina was in the Allentown area yesterday to speak to Air Products and Chemicals officials about thermodynamics, one of the areas he researches for his private company, Exergy Inc. of Houston. Pam Handwerk, an Air Products spokeswoman, said Kalina spoke during a regular "roundtable discussion," where engineers are briefed on new technologies. She said, though, that Air Products has no commercial interest in the Kalina Cycle.

That's not the case with 10 public utilities, which have hired a Boston research contractor to study how cost-efficient the process is, Kalina said. In addition, a $10-million Kalina Cycle power plant is being built in California by Fayette Manufacturing Corp., which has purchased the technology. The company hopes the new plant will prove the critics of the Kalina Cycle wrong. Some scientists have said the process will never be as cost-efficient as Kalina claims.

Kalina, sitting in his hotel room at the Allentown Hilton yesterday afternoon, said his process could eventually save power customers 20 percent to 25 percent on their bills.

His process involves heating a mixture of ammonia and water to create steam to power turbines in a plant. Currently, water by itself is used in the boilers. By mixing ammonia with it, water boils more quickly, thus creating more steam from the existing heat source.

The Kalina Cycle can convert 45 percent of a system's heat input to electricity. Current systems can only convert 35 percent of the heat input.

Using mixtures to create more efficient ways of producing power is nothing new, though. Kalina admits that it was being done even before he was born.

But what makes Kalina's process unique is what it does in the second half of a power plant's operation, condensing the leftover steam to water for recycling. Ammonia has a much lower condensing temperature than water, and condensing it as part of a mixture would require a great deal more energy and money than condensing just water.

Kalina, however, has developed a way to dilute the leftover ammonia-water vapor, allowing it to condense at a much higher temperature.

He said he has acquired five different patents for the process and is constantly working on ways to adapt it for various uses. Despite the company's insistence of having no commercial interest in the Kalina Cycle, Kalina said Air Products officials expressed an interest in using it in the trash-to-steam process proposed as part of new solid waste incinerator plants. Air Products has entered into a joint venture with Browning-Ferris Industries of Houston to build the plants.

"The payback is faster," Kalina said of his process. "It's going to be cheaper than the Rankine (the name of the current steam process)."

He said he doesn't envision all existing power plants being converted to his process, but he hopes all the new plants built will use the Kalina Cycle.

Until the prototype plant in California is completed some time next year, Kalina said he will work on ways to improve his process and enjoy his new- found life in America. Finishing the last of his beer, Kalina said life in Russia is a day-to-day struggle. "After having been here, I don't know if I could ever live that way again," he said.